An outdoor advertising company has reversed its controversial decision to pull down safe-sex awareness signs featuring a hugging, gay couple. Adshel, which copped widespread criticism over the removal of the signs from Brisbane bus shelters, announced this afternoon the signs would be reinstated after accepting complaints had been “orchestrated” by the Australian Christian Lobby.

Adshel earlier responded to a series of complaints by removing the campaign from its media panels yesterday,” the company said in a statement on its website this afternoon.

“None of the complaints indicated any liaison with the ACL, so Adshel was made to believe that they originated from individual members of the public.”

Adshel chief executive Steve McCarthy said it was now clear that Adshel had been the target of a co-ordinated ACL campaign against the “Rip and Roll” advertisements designed by the Queensland Association for Healthy Communities.

“This has led us to review our decision to remove the campaign and we will therefore reinstate the campaign with immediate effect,” he said.

ACL Queensland director Wendy Francis, who earlier said there had been a co-ordinated attempt to have the ads removed, condemned the decision to reinstate the ads.

Ms Francis denied she led an orchestrated ACL campaign against the billboards, saying she had personally raised concern about the ads on her Facebook page promoting G-rated outdoor advertising and contacted her friends about the issue. She blasted the decision to reinstate the ads as a “loss for our children” but said it reflected people power.

“I really think people power is what is winning in this particular case and it’s who’s got the most people complaining about it,” she told this website.

“I think people would be supportive of the message it [the advertisement] is promoting but I don’t think ... people want safe-sex messaging placed on bus shelters where schoolchildren wait for the bus.

“The message is OK, the placement of the message is not OK."

Ms Francis was last year forced to apologise publicly after a Tweet likening gay marriage to legalising child abuse. Then a Family First candidate for the Senate, she claimed the tweet was sent from her office, but not by her. Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au